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Dream Army
from JAC Issue #17
by
Captain Doug Hammond
(At the time of the writing of this article in early 2002,
Captain Doug Hammond served with his wife
as Northern KwaZulu Natal Project: Mission Officers in South
Africa.)
In June 1999
my wife and I had been called for an interview with the
Territorial Commander of the Southern Africa Territory. There
were a number of issues that needed to be discussed, many of
which were routine. Near the end of our time together we were
discussing what the future might be for us in South Africa.
We'd served six years in the Territory, never even having an
appointment in our home Territory of Canada. At one point the
Colonel turned to me and asked, "Tell me what your dream
appointment would be." I was somewhat surprised at the
question and stumbled as I tried to answer. My wife and I had
enjoyed Corps ministry for six years, but we also had seen
other areas of ministry in South Africa that we had interest
in. As I was trying to pull my words together to make some
sense the Colonel interrupted me and said, "No you don't
understand. You are talking to me about appointments that
you've seen somewhere before. I want you to tell me what would
your appointment be if you could make it up from scratch."
I was surprised by his first question, but completely at a
loss with how he had followed it up. Never in my two years as
an accepted candidate, two years as a Cadet, or six years as
an Officer had anyone ever asked me to dream up what kind of
appointment I might like. Many had asked, "Would you like to
be a Corps Officer? Serve overseas? Be involved with youth
work?"
In fact, asking me where I'd like to fit in the existing
ministry of The Salvation Army. Long ago my wife and I had
made a commitment that we'd go wherever our leaders appointed
us, that was how we understood the wonderful calling we were a
part of. I guess I never really thought "dream appointments"
were part of the package. I have no idea how I answered the
Territorial Commander that afternoon, I just remember leaving
his office feeling very disappointed that I'd not been able to
give him and answer. On the way home I expressed my
frustration to my wife that I'd felt so inadequate in
responding to him. At first I blamed "the system" that had
somehow tricked me into no longer being able to dream dreams.
After all at one point I could remember being quite creative -
nothing of a CS Lewis vintage - but I could solve problems,
express thoughts clearly. But today I could not answer a
simple question given to me by our leader. Then I thought it
was his fault. He had no right to ask such a question! He
knows my loyalty to our mission and that my focus is on being
ready at a moments notice to respond to directives. His
question was just unfair.
In the end I realised that my frustration was rooted in the
fact that I was just disappointed in myself. I'd been caught
not dreaming. When was it I stopped dreaming? How did it
happen? Why did I let it happen? I decided that when I got
home I'd sit down to write a letter to the Territorial
Commander. I expressed to him my frustration at not providing
a better answer to his question. During that afternoon I also
spent some time dreaming of an appointment that I'd never
heard of or seen. In my dream I was mixing together the needs
in South Africa (as I understood them), the mission of The
Salvation Army (eg. Save sinners, make saints, and serve
suffering humanity), the past experience of my wife and I,
along with the gifts and abilities God had blessed us with. It
was a refreshing and exciting experience to dream a dream.
Today my wife and I are stationed in Northern KwaZulu Natal as
Project:Mission Officers, an appointment that, I guess, came
out of a dream. The basic mandate given to us is to identify
mission potential in KwaZulu Natal, and then support, equip,
and encourage in those ministries. This appointment has
provided me with some of the greatest privileges of my
Officership. We are given opportunity to travel to remote and
isolated areas of the country which are often facing extreme
difficulties. Many of our Officers and Local Officers face the
challenges associated with poverty in the communities in which
they serve. Crime, unemployment, despair, hopelessness,
hunger, malnutrition, fear, haunt their communities. To work
with some of these Officers and Soldiers, that not only serve
faithfully year after year, but do it with joy, is a constant
encouragement and challenge to me.
This past weekend I was given a wonderful opportunity to visit
with Envoy Emmanuel and Rosemary Mdluli who are stationed at
the Inkonisa Corps. I'd spoken with the DC who had asked that
I visit the Mdlulis to offer some support. They are a young
couple with four children who have been serving full time with
The Salvation Army for five years. They have only been in
their present appointment for one year where they oversee six
Corps, all in isolated communities which are very difficult to
reach with public transport (the Mdluli's have no car). It
took some time to contact the Envoy, although he has a cell
phone there is no reception for it at his home deep in a rural
area. When you call you have to leave a message for him. Every
few days he will climb a hill close by his home where he can
pick up reception on his phone, and there he will receive his
messages. If he can afford to make a call he will phone you
back, if not you have to wait till he has an opportunity.
I'd eventually reached him and made the arrangements for the
visit. He was reluctant to give me directions since he was
certain I'd get lost. My new appointment has taken me to many
new communities, some rural, and some deep in township areas.
I found it difficult to believe I could not find his
community, but agreed to meet him at a petrol station on the
highway. My assumption was that when I picked him up we'd
travel about 10-15 minutes to get to his home. I mean how far
could he live from a place I kind of considered the end of the
world? In fact we had to drive another hour to get to the end
of the world, and then another half an hour on a dirt road to
reach his home of Mdluli. After a brief greeting with his wife
and family Emmanuel and I set off to spend the day visiting
soldiers from the Corps.
Saturdays has become a time for funerals in KwaZulu Natal with
the high rate of HIV/Aids infection. There were some who were
out at funerals, but we were fortunate to greet several as we
traveled up and down the mountainous area on dirt paths
sometimes having to hop over rocks. It is a wonderful
experience to find yourself in an environment that is so far
removed from your home culture, and then to be greeted by
people with an enthusiastic "Halleluhah!". You're quickly
reminded that all the things that you thought made you a
stranger to a community - the language, culture, skin color -
were nothing compared to what bound you together as brothers
and sisters in God's wonderful family. To be able to visit
with such people is indeed a dream come true for me.
The added blessing of the day was to walk the routes Envoy
Mdluli covers every week while visiting his people. The
hardships of the community are certainly covered up by the
beauty of the countryside. Anyone just driving through would
not know the stories of poverty, death, and despair that the
Envoy shared with me about his people. In each home we were
greeted with such enthusiasm, and it was obvious that the
people really did love their Umfudisi (Officer). My limited
Zulu made it difficult to carry on much of a conversation but
we were able to communicate through the Envoy even though he
finds English difficult. I could not help but be impressed by
the way this humble servant would treat his people with such
respect. Signs of poverty could be seen everywhere we visited.
Not many of the people we saw had shoes, and much of the time
we sat on mud floors. Yet as we greeted each of them Envoy
Mdluli had the ability to make them feel special.
As we walked from home to home I had the opportunity to hear
more about the Envoy and his wife. They had both had jobs in
Durban with a home in the townships. Although the area they
lived might not have been attractive by western standards, it
did have running water, electricity, access to public
transportation etc., many services that rural Africans can
only dream of. They had three children and were, by many
African standards, doing very well for themselves. Emmanuel
had grown up in a non- Salvationist Christian home but had
backslidden. His wife was the daughter of Officer parents and
after marriage had wanted to continue attending The Salvation
Army Umlazi Corps.
According to Zulu custom she had to ask her husband's
permission. Emmanuel had no objection, and even transported
his wife to the services from time to time. One Sunday as he
was waiting for his wife at the back of the hall, he started
to consider the challenge that the speaker was making to the
congregation. The Holy Spirit touched him that day and he gave
his heart to Jesus. Later that year he was enrolled as a
soldier and both he and his wife served faithfully at the
Umlazi Corps when they both felt the call to full time
service.
Due to their limited formal education they knew they would
need some time to prepare for Training College; however, there
was an urgent need for an Officer couple at another Corps in
Umlazi Township and the Mdlulis were asked to fill in as
Envoys. For four years they worked hard at their appointment,
but found it difficult to meet the educational criterion for
College. As he shared with me that afternoon it was obvious
he'd been disappointed at not making it to Training College,
and at his present appointment there is little chance he'll
have the time, or opportunity to continue his studies. But as
you speak with him he will never complain. The only time he
will speak about hardships are when you directly ask him – and
even then his answer will be brief, and to the point. What he
really loves to talk about is his ministry, the people, the
opportunities, the blessings.
After a very fulfilling day we returned to his home where his
wife had been preparing a meal for us. Several times he
mentioned to me how wonderful their house was and how
fortunate they are to have running water. It was very true
that they had a small, but very nice home that had been built
in 1998 and seemed to be quite modern. As it was getting dark
I noticed he was not turning the lights on, and his wife was
working on a parafin stove. When I asked him about electricity
he laughed and said "No we have all the fixtures" he pointed
to the light fixtures on the ceiling "but the house has never
been hooked up for power.". After a few minutes something
seemed to bother him and he turned to me and asked "I hope you
won't mind using candles.". Hospitality is important to Zulus,
as with most Africans, and it had occurred to him I might find
it difficult to adjust. I assured him that I stayed in many
homes that had to use candles and there was no problem. But I
had thought to myself that it was interesting he had never
even thought about it earlier. All he spoke about was how
great it was to have running water. Spending time with someone
so positive, while they are living with such hardships was
refreshing.
As we sat down to a great meal I wanted to learn as much as I
could about Emmanuel, his family and his ministry. His wife
walked back and forth to the kitchen, and never sat with us (a
common Zulu custom), but I was curious to see how she felt
about living in the rural areas. At one point as she was
clearing some dishes I asked "Rosemary are you happy here?".
That moment was the first time I'd seen her stop working all
day. She immediately stopped what she was doing, turned to me
and said "I'm very happy here." The more time I spent in their
home the more their attitude impacted me. Here was a couple
that had given up a lot for their calling, had faced many
disappointments, and now were in an appointment that holds
hardships few Officers would ever have to face, yet there was
no word of complaint. I'm now familiar with many of the
difficulties such rural appointments face. The giving at all
of the six Corps combined would not nearly cover his
allowance. He would receive a grant from THQ that would offer
him some income, but the extra expences such as travelling to
such remote areas would eat into a portion of that.
I was certainly enjoying the opportunity to sit and discuss
the ministry with Emmanuel. Although he also seemed to be
enjoying it, there were times when he seemed awkward. Finally
I asked him how he and his wife had adjusted to living with
out electricity in their home. It was becoming obvious that he
was not very comfortable whenever I asked him about any of his
personal difficulties. As he turned to me he seemed to pause
trying to sort out the English words he needed to express
hiself. He said, "Captain, we feel very happy to be called to
the work of God. We've decided to not think about anything
that might take our attention away from what God wants us to
do. We know God called us here for some reason, and that he
has given us all we need to do the work even though we never
went to College. If we start looking at some of these little
problems we could miss an opportunity for God." As he spoke
I'd remembered his sense of excitement as we had been visiting
that day. It was obvious he was, "happy to be called to the
work of God." Here was a couple just thrilled at the thought
of being called by God for a special task.
I don't know if I will ever forget that moment. Sitting here I
can remember almost every detail of the room, with just a
couple of candles lighting up the room, the expression on his
face, and the two of us sitting there I felt so privileged to
be able to enjoy the hospitality of such focused servants. I
said to him, "I think it is wise to not allow yourselves to
talk about things that can get you discouraged..." But he
interrupted me. "No Captain, it is not that we don't talk
about it, we don't think about it." Wow! Here was a couple so
overwhelmed by the wonder of being used by God that they
refused to allow anything to distract them. As I was drifting
off to sleep that night I remembered a time that I felt like
that - a time when all the hassles seemed so insignificant
compared to the idea that God had a special plan to use my
life. I don't know what happened to that time, but I was sure
thankful for the reminder the Mdluli family gave me, of what a
wonderful thing it was to be called by God.
I could write a whole lot more about my weekend at the
Inkonisa Corps. The Sunday service was exciting and the
Mdlulis continued to encourage me with their leadership and
spirit. As I drove away I'd remembered that the DC had asked
me to visit the couple to offer encouragment, and yet I'd
received from them much more than I ever could have offered.
And then on the way home I began to think - to dream. What
would happen if every Officer could make such a commitment?
The commitment of Emmanuel and Rosemary. To commit themselves
to not think about anything that might distract them from the
mission God was calling them to. What would happen if every
soldier were to make that commitment? "We will not allow
ourselves to think about anything that will distract us from
saving sinners, making saints, or serving the needs of
suffering humanity." Perhaps that was the kind of dream Paul
was trying to pass on when he wrote words like, "What is more,
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing
greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I
have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain
Christ and be found in him ..." Or, "Forgetting what is behind
and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal
to with the prize..." I'm also reminded of the passage in
Hebrews 12: "...let us throw off everything that hinders and
the sin that so easily engages, and let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us." What kind of Army
would it be if every soldier were to make that commitment, to
not even allow a thought that might hinder our mission to
dwell in our minds. It makes an exciting dream.
Perhaps it is a dream, but I've already learnt it is a
dangerous thing to stop dreaming. I've also learnt that
sometimes when we allow ourselves to dream, God makes them a
reality. When we are so focused on what it, it is impossible
to even imagine there is more. So on my drive home I allowed
myself to dream about a Salvation Army like that - with
Officers and soldiers single minded in their devotion to their
individual callings. And I take the first step toward that
dream as I make a commitment to nurture that discipline.
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